Meghan M.

My girlfriend and I come here often and we love it. The food is great and the half off wine on Wednesdays is awesome! The bowls are great to switch up what you get every time. Great option in Charleston!

Ben Y.

Where to begin with this place that offers any number of options from either asian or pacific islander cusine. When I looked up this place, it had relatively good reviews, the interior looked clean and cozy and I thought to myself why not? Upon entering the entire place has a woodsy sort of vibe. Lots of hardwood, nothing wrong about that. There are some festive pillows off to the side on the pew-like seats that adorn the wall. Likely they haven't been washed ever as the white has now turned an interesting shade of light grey. But I will say the interior was clean. The odd thing though is think to yourself the staples of asian cooking. Garlic, ginger, scallion, shallot, msg, soy sauce, oyster sauce, any number of fermented pastes. These smells were.... absent from the area. Entirely. It's not as if they used air freshener to eliminate it, it was just gone. A harbinger of the 5th horsemen of culinary apocolypse. My asian ancestors would roll over in their grave at the sight of some of this food. The lumpia was freshly fried but was $10. The fried spring rolls that are made and served en-masse during holidays. Were 10 dollars. I get the economy and the state of the food industry but this is tragic. The real food crime was their brunch "everything but the kitchen sink bowl" It was served on coconut rice, which had the world's faintest taste of coconut. It was as if you killed a real coconut and through some necromantic spell, imparted the barest essence of coconut into the rice. There are haunted houses with stronger presences than this rice had coconut. In this bowl was rice, egg, (good start and debatably the most asian of the ingredients presented), spam (a staple of asian food, but sadly there was only a very thin slice, cut in half to make it seem as if there was more), two small pieces of pork belly (slightly dry and wish there was more), some potato/chipped meat hash (super... ethnic hash?), and most bafflingly of all, queso and gravy. Now I have eaten a good number of asian foods from different cultures and places and never have I ever seen an asian place try to place gravy or queso on its food and this place had both. It instantly smothered out any other flavors that would have been present and worse of all, I couldn't distinguish them from each other. Even blind tasting them, they visually looked identical just that one had more... color? Seasonings in it? I would challenge you to name a single asian ingredient. Sesame seeds, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, scallion, shallot, hell even honey, mushrooms, spring onion. Not a single one was present, or distinguishable in this food. It is disingenuous to call this at all asian or island inspired and quite frankly it disgusts me. Avatar the Last Airbender is more asian than this cuisine. The live action. There I said it. I had to admit that I watched that movie and that's the second worst thing about this post cause the worst is the bowl I was served. I would say dishonor upon your family and family cow but there was no beef in this dish. Worse of all my server was absent for most of the meal, attending to "another thing she had to do" but no other tables were being waited by her and she checked in with me once to take my order and once to give me the check. No water, no check after food was served to see if everything was alright. More absent than a high school senior's mind in April. I shall not be going back as this would likely incur the wrath of the entire nation of the Philipines for giving this any more attention it deserves.

Emma B.

Cool spot in Charleston! Loved the vibes of the place and service was great. We ordered the Brussels sprouts (6.5/10) and the Salmon bowl with coconut rice (8/10). Sprouts were a bit saucy for me, but still great flavor and would definitely try again. The salmon bowl was great, and do NOT skip the coconut rice!

Customer service 4/5. Very kind, quick to help, and provided good customer service. Only thing is we were not aware that there were smaller beer cup options until we got the bill. Had we know, we would have ordered a smaller glass. Food: pork adobo was a little on the salty side. Flavor was otherwise enjoyable. There were hardly any full chunks of chicken in my plate. Most of it were shreds. For how it tasted, I would eat it again, but for the portion sizes and cost, I would not come back. Fili Cheesesteak was a standard cheesesteak that left me wanting more spice/seasoning in the beef. When I saw it was "Korean braised" I expected a slightly different experience. I was satisfied with the portion size and the wonton chips were really good. Good meal just felt like it needed some more flavor.

John B.

A surprising find for me, this little Filipino restaurant. The parking lot is separate from the neighboring Domino's and is small and hilly-that's WVA for you. The inside is quite nicely tricked out and it got pretty busy even on a midweek evening. The menu offers some nice vegetarian variety. Unlike most mainland Asian cuisines, there's no tofu or edamame, and unlike the other island cultures farther South, there's no tempeh, but there is a ton of soy sauce. I've never really understood that. But here, they offer dishes based on avocado, mushrooms, and peanuts. I tried some buns with avocado and a zingy slaw, and a bowl of peanuts in garlic chili sauce over white rice. Both dishes were tasty and interesting. It wasn't a ton of food for the money. Having said that, I tried two dishes and wished I'd tried a third, so there's a pretty good chance I visit again at some point when I'm driving through the area.

Eion P.

Don't be fooled by the humble location. Barkadas is a trendy, modern, chic Phillipino-American fusion restaurant with great food and an impressive amount of draft beers. We have gone for brunch twice and loved it. The first time we ordered shrimp and grits and chicken and waffles. The second time we ordered the chicken and waffles and breakfast burger. First of all, you must order these chicken and waffles--they are some of the best we've had. The waffle batter has a nutty-candy crunch topping which would almost be too sweet except it's perfectly balanced out by savory fried chicken. The breakfast burger was also delicious--it comes with a runny egg, bacon and smokey pepper jam. Our only disappointment was the portion sizes--for the price, we found the dishes a tad small. However, the food was delicious and we look forward to coming back again!

Oneya O.

Barkadas is a great little spot bringing together Filipino, Hawaiian, and American flavors. We stopped on a road trip because my daughter was craving lumpia. That craving was more than fulfilled! The lumpia were crispy, with well- seasoned filling, and a spicy sweet chili- lime sauce. The accompanying pickled vegetables were a nice touch. For my entree I had the shrimp and grits. The shrimp were cooked in gravy and served over grits with a fried egg. The gravy was amazing- it is made in house and the care shows. The only issue with this dish was ratios. The quantity of grits was so great it drown out the amazing gravy and the shrimp in the dish. With a smaller quantity of grits, this dish could make my list of favorite shrimp and grits anywhere. Still, overall great service, interesting flavors, and a relaxing place to stop. I'd definitely return to try more of the menu.

Kristin C.

We saw a tiktok review of this restaurant and weren't even aware of its existence. We finally made it to Charleston and stopped in to try it out. The restaurant itself is smaller and has a nice atmosphere. We arrived just as they opened and it was a good thing, because they got busy very quickly. Our server was very sweet and attentive. There were so many things we wanted to try but the first was the nachos. We added adobo chicken to it. I'm not sure how to describe the flavor. The cheese was a little bland and the chicken was marinated in what I assume was an adobe sauce type marinade. It didn't really taste like adobe sauce to me though. The fist couple bites, I wasn't sure I really cared for them, but with each bite I took, the more I enjoyed them. The jalapeños had the perfect amount of heat to them. I think they may have been lightly pickled. We enjoyed it so much, we cleaned the plate. We couldn't decide exactly what else we wanted because there were so many things we wanted to try. We finally decided to get an order of the Chicken Karaage Bao Buns to share. Then we each ordered our own entree. The Bao Buns themselves were very bland. I would have rather just had the chicken on a plate. The buns did not add anything to the dish at all. The chicken had a good flavor, thankfully. Neither of us would order them again. My husband got the Filirito. It came with fries. He was quite full at this point so he only took a small bite of his and boxed it up to bring it home. He took a small bite of it and said it was alright, but nothing he was overly excited about. I ordered the Beef Bistek bowl with coconut ginger rice and it came with pickled vegetables. The beef had a very nice flavor and I loved the pickled vegetables with it. I brought home over half of it and just ate the remainder. It was still quite good even room temperature. Overall, it was a good meal. We will probably return and try some of the other items on the menu as well.

Rachel C.

Made a stop here on a recent road trip and was SO grateful to find something so delicious this close to the highway! The bao buns are SO good, and the bowls are enormous and super filling. Honestly I could have just had the buns as a meal and been perfectly happy! They even deliver your to go order right to your car, which is amazing in these weird COVID times.

Carolyn B.

I ordered a pork dish with jasmine coconut rice, and it was tasty. Didn't really get the feel that this was authentic Filipino food, though. Nice bar. The kitchen closes too early, imo.

My husband and I visited for the first time this evening. We were both impressed with the quality of the food and the friendliness and attentiveness of the staff. I asked for a dish that was no longer on the menu and was still able to get it (Hernshaw Farms Mushroom Bowl). I was honestly a little worried that I would miss having protein in my entrée, but the mushrooms were seasoned so well and had such a nice texture that I didn't miss having meat at all. My husband got the Mango Tuna Tini in addition to his entrée, and it was to die for. Will definitely be visiting again.

Joanne T.

This is a very cute filipino fusion restaurant. The dishes are hit or miss. I love their fries and bao buns. The chicken karrage bowl was very tasty, but there was not enough chicken. The beef bistek bowl was a disappointment. The pickled veggies were too sour, beef was too salty, and the very thin noodles do not go well with the dish. It took three tries for them to get my order right. I would still come back to try other dishes.

Stephanie P.

Holy amazing! Small, thoughtfully curated gem outside of downtown Charleston. We visited during brunch and the food was so fresh and creative. We wished we could have ordered the entire menu. Must visit!